Sri Lanka is committed to international human rights law and there is renewed political commitment and will in the country, to strengthen human rights law compliance mechanisms, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva, Ravinath Ariyasinhe said at an ICRC conference. The envoy said Sri Lanka was also committed to advancing measures to prevent and respond to all forms of violence including sexual and gender based violence. See more here .
Sri Lanka will conduct an economic forum with the participation of world-renowned economists, including some from Harvard University, to provide advice on the implementation of the government's economic plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said to the Daily Mirror on Wednesday. “We are going to consult the best economists in the world. They may be from different countries. This is organised by the Ministry of International Trade. There are economists attached to Harvard University, to attend it,” he said. "Generation of one million economic opportunities, enhancing income levels,...
Families of the disappeared demonstrated in Mannar on Thursday, marking Human Rights Day. Calling for their loved ones who are missing or forcibly disappeared to be returned to them, protesters wept as they marched through the town, holding photographs of those who they were searching for.
Members of the Northern Provincial Council on Thursday called on the UN to secure the Tamil people's human rights.
Sri Lanka will sign the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances today, marking International Human Rights Day, said the country's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera in a statement marking International Human Rights Day. "Today is International Human Rights Day. And as in the past, Sri Lanka will join the countries of the world in commemorating this important event. But this year, Sri Lanka’ commemorations will not only be symbolic – they will also be substantive," he said. "So I am very pleased to announce that Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN will be signing the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances later today in New York," he added. His statement came as Tamil families whose loved ones remain missing protested in Mannar against disappearances and the Northern Provincial Council demanded the UN to secure the Tamil people's human rights .
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called for land and police powers to be devolved to the provinces. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) Selvam Adaikalanathan said that the 13th Amendment must be fully implemented with powers fully devolved to the Northern provinces. The parliamentarian lamented the government’s failure to fully implement the amendment, highlighting that the previous government had even removed some of the clauses form the amendment, reports Colombo Gazette.
Sri Lanka’s former External Affairs Minister Prof GL Peiris expressed “serious concern” over considerations of a general amnesty for former Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres in custody. Mr Peiris added that the Jaffna Tamil student who committed suicide demanding the release of Tamil political prisoners was a “sophisticated plan” to influence the government’s decision making process. Drawing on foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera’s statement in parliament on the possibility of amnesty for those who had been charge under the prevention of terrorism act, Mr Peiris told a public...
Families of missing Tamils have decided to boycott Sri Lanka’s presidential commission into disappearances, and staged a protest in Jaffna to express their disappointment with the commission. Photographs Tamil Guardian Members of the organisation representing the relatives of missing persons in the North-East agreed to fully boycott the Presidential Commission’s inquiries, demanding instead that any further investigations should be carried out by independent, international actors.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) found the Sri Lankan police guilty of violating international law in a landmark case last week, over the use of excessive force when dispersing student protestors in Colombo. "(The) police action is a violation of the universal declaration of human rights as well as the international covenant on civil and political rights," said the commission said in a 32-page report last week. Students who protested in Colombo in October were violently dispersed by police officers. "Students had been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment in violation of their rights guaranteed by the constitution as well as international human rights covenants," said the HRCSL.
Sri Lanka’s exports fell for the seventh successive month in September 2015, with tea export earnings slumping 20.4%, according to the latest figures released by the Central Bank. Exports fell by 5.9% to US$ 850 million in September 2015, a decline that has continued since March 2015. Industrial exports were the hardest hit, falling by 4.7%, with lower shipments of rubber products, gems, diamonds and jewellery, machinery and mechanical appliances and printing industry products reported. Tea exports fell in particular, a 20.4% in September of this year compared to the same month in 2014, according to official data. The Sri Lankan government plans to artificially raise the price of tea by purchasing from the tea auction, in an attempt to stabilise the market, said Lanka Business Online.